The Lost Daughter of Happiness is an epic and moving love story of individuals intoxicated with one another and yet repeatedly separated by prejudice and mistrust. The novel chronicles the lives of the main characters over decades against a backdrop of social turmoil -- the anti-Chinese hysteria that plagued San Francisco.

From the Publisher:Los Angeles Times bestseller -- now in paperback.|A "sensuous and disquieting new novel" [New York Times] from one of China's most acclaimed novelists, the award-winning screenwriter of Joan Chen's film Xiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl|The Lost Daughter of Happiness is an epic and moving love story of individuals intoxicated with one another and yet repeatedly separated by prejudice and mistrust. The novel chronicles the lives of the main characters over decades against a backdrop of social turmoil -- the anti-Chinese hysteria that plagued San Francisco.The powerful story of a love affair between an enigmatic Chinese prostitute and the Caucasian boy who worships her is set against the aftermath of the Gold Rush era, when anti-Chinese violence plagued the city of San Fransisco, known during that time as Gold Mountain to the millions who came seeking fortune. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Annotation:A Chinese girl, kidnapped and sold as a prostitute, ends up in San Francisco, where she prospers in unexpected ways. The novel is based on the exploits of a real woman named Fusang.

Praise

Kirkus Reviews"Yan has done her research but...the protagonist is made so representative of the fate of a generation of 'lost daughters' that she never fully comes to life." 04/15/2001

Times Literary Supplement"The details of Fusang's career are harrowing, but this is not just another story about Chinese pain that allows the Western sons and daughters of humanism to heave a sigh at Oriental inhumanity....The novel's strength lies in its narration....the narrator moves between present and past, between the personal and the historical....[W]hat marks this expertly translated novel out as a challenging work of literature [is] the narrative voice that refuses readers and protagonists the redeeming assurance of understanding." - Julia Lovell 08/10/2001